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Flaivor is an Adobe AIR application for watching quality web videos on your desktop. Flaivor is a project by the folks over at Hatchling a 3d animation an interactive media company.

The first thing you notice about Flaivor is it’s small size on your desktop. The second will be the polished UI graphics, I especially like the faux turned metal switches and sliders.

The UI is simple and easy to navigate around. A list of video sources on the web are in the left panel, playback controls on the bottom and list of videos to play on the right. There is also a fullscreen option with playback controls.

The video sources used as the power behind this app are not the usual YouTube. The include some of the best short animations and cartoons, I ended up watching lots of videos with this app.

This version of Flaivor allows you to save your favourites into the ‘my videos’ selection on the left panel. You can also drag and drop any FLV videos from your machine directly on the playback window.

Design eye

Really nice attention to detail on the graphics and transitions in this AIR app. It’s about time we have more oldskool metal interfaces in apps again. I really liked the visual change when the buttons were depressed, the sliders are also clear but interesting.

The rollover effect and transition on the right hand panel is slick, but why doesn’t the left hand panel get the same treatment? It gets no rollover or selection notification so your constantly wondering what you have selected.

The panel animations when you start or close the app are a really nice way to finish off the AIR app.

Technical eye

Would you think that a UI of this design would be built using Flash? Well your wrong it’s in fact Adobe Flex 3. Another proof that not all Flex apps look the same. Nice work.